HomeSleepCalling all night owls: Making your sleep habits work for you

Calling all night owls: Making your sleep habits work for you

Dec 1, 2014

Rate this article and enter to win $1,000Sleeping much? At night—or in lectures? If these questions make you yawn or weep, you’re in good (but tired) company. Many college students are night owls, prone to staying up late, then sleeping well into the morning or crashing during the day.

Your memory, mood, grades, and health depend on decent sleep. So how can you get it? Transforming into an early-morning lark is not a realistic goal. Aiming for eight hours might seem hopeless, too. So don’t. What you can do is make small gains: an extra half-hour here, 15 minutes there. “It makes a difference,” says Dr. Shelley Hershner, director of the Collegiate Sleep Disorder Center at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Night owls come in different types. To find your sleep fixes, first identify which type of night owl you are.

Common night owl

Bedtime midnight–2 a.m.

Short-term goal No tech in bed

Strategies

Wake up 7–9.30 a.m. (even on weekends)

“Going to bed at the same time each night is one of the hardest things for students to do, partly because of exams and varying coursework. It’s more important to make their wake-up time more regular.” —Shelley Hershner, MD

Sleep facts

College students are among the most sleep-deprived populations, (National Institutes of Health).

To reset your body clock, wake up earlier (even 10–15 minutes helps) and at a quasi-regular time (including weekends).

What gets in the way

Variable course or work schedule

Weekend stuff

Dark or dim room

Peer influence

What you can do

Wake up around the same time each day.

Avoid 8 a.m. classes if possible.

On weekends, sleep only an hour later than usual. Waking at noon is very tough on your sleep schedule.

Let in morning sunlight, or get outdoors early. Bright light peps you up and resets your body clock.

Let your friends know how good you feel after enough sleep instead of how bad you feel from sleep deprivation.

Avoid all-nighters–a little sleep is better than none.

Quit the technology at least 30 minutes before bed

Here’s how technology deprives you of sleep:

The blue wavelength light emitted by computer, tablet, and phone screens suppresses your production of melatonin, a sleep-regulating hormone.

Tech activities are super-stimulating in themselves. This is why there are no lullabies about online poker, Instagram, and web surfing.

How to get horrible sleep: Text before bed and sleep with your cell phone close by. Studies prove it.

“Using a phone or a tablet, which is closer to your eyes than watching television, sends a stronger signal to your brain that says, ‘Hey, this is wake-up time.’”–Shelley Hershner, MD

What gets in the way

School work/assignments

Browsing the web

Cell phone

The existential void of social media

Reading on a tablet or eReader

Racing mind

What you can do

Work at your desk. Use your bed only for sleeping. No technology in bed.

Take a nap before studying for an exam.

Try an app that dims the screen, like f.lux.

Turn it to a silent setting.

Use Airplane Mode (your alarm still works).

Place your phone out of reach–so both you and it can recharge. Watching the clock causes “sleep stress”.

Pick up to four social media platforms and ditch the rest.

OMG you need to put down the phone and stop texting before (and during) bedtime LOL.

Set an alarm limiting your online social whirl to 20 minutes.

Listen to an audio book–nothing too exciting.

Read a feel-good paperback or magazine.

Keep paper by your bed for a brain dump.

If you don’t fall asleep within 30 minutes, get up and try again later.

Avoid vigorous exercise close to bedtime, if it seems to keep you awake.

Try a light snack at night and/or herbal tea.

Distressed night owl

Bedtime 2–4 a.m.

Short-term goal Strategize on naps

Strategies

Wake up 9—11 a.m. (even on weekends)

To reset your body clock, wake up earlier (even 10—15 minutes) and at a quasi-regular time (including weekends).

“A student coming to me for insomnia said he went to bed at 8 a.m. That is not a normal sleep time for a young adult student. I recommended he get to bed at a more appropriate, regular time, and get off Facebook. Within two weeks he had a regular schedule and was much less sleepy during the day.” —Shelley Hershner, MD

What gets in the way

Weekend stuff

Dark or dim room

Peer influence

What you can do

On weekends, sleep only an hour longer than your weekday wake-up time.

Let in morning sunlight, or get outdoors early. Bright light peps you up and resets your body clock.

Let your friends now how good you feel after enough sleep instead of how bad you feel from sleep deprivation.

Avoid all-nighters–a little sleep is better than none.

Map your nap

Naps can improve sleep—or ruin it. Strategize.

If you’re sleepy during the day, squeezing in a 15–30 minute nap can improve mood, alertness, and performance. “In one study, a six-minute nap improved memorization by 11 percent.” –Shelley Hershner, MD

Warning: If you’re taking naps then lying awake at night, quit the naps.

What gets in the way

Not sleepy yet

Don’t have time

There’s never a place to nap when you need one

What you can do

Plan to nap before you get sleepy.

Don’t nap for longer than one hour. Set a timer or alarm.

Nap when needed, or schedule a nap at the same time each day.

Come on. Fifteen blissful minutes. You can do it.

Avoid naps after 3 p.m. unless you’re driving and need a break.

Organize a nap pod initiative (if you have the energy). Students at the University of Michigan installed nap pods in a library and are studying the effects of brief naps on memory and retention. Three in four students said they would use the pods.

Avoid early classes

Sign up for later classes whenever possible.

“I counsel a lot of my students on avoiding the 8 a.m. class. If you can have a 9 a.m. or 10 a.m. class, you will probably get more sleep.” —Shelley Hershner, MD

Of course, if you’re that rare morning lark, 8 a.m. classes are a great option.

A sleep specialist can help figure out what’s making sleep so difficult and how to address it.

“Extreme night owls probably have to see a physician. Their biology is so far off society’s schedule, they will need help to normalize.” —Shelley Hershner, MD

Most sleep disorders don’t disappear without treatment. Treatments can be: behavioral (e.g., waking at the same time every day), pharmacological (medication), or surgical.

In a 2005 survey, 75 percent of adults had at least one symptom of a sleep problem, and 10 percent of adults reported severe insomnia (National Sleep Foundation).

What gets in the way

Nocturnal schedule

Don’t know whether you have a sleep disorder

What you can do

Make an appointment to see a doctor as soon as you can.

See a sleep specialist, if needed.

Get treatment from a sleep specialist for the following conditions and symptoms:

Sleepwalking

Insomnia

Sleep-disordered breathing (e.g., sleep apnea)

Excessive daytime sleepiness

Restless leg syndrome

Common disruptions

Biology of young adults

Why is it a problem?

In late puberty the body secretes melatonin, the sleep hormone, later in the night. This developmental shift alters the sleep-wake cycle, so we feel more awake at night, fall asleep later, and wake up later.

Strategies

Get exposure to sunlight early. You’ll feel more alert, while helping to reset your body clock for earlier nights.

Sleep-deprived students perform worse but aren’t aware of it. If you thought you rocked that test but actually bombed it, this might be why.

Pulling an all-nighter gives you the driving performance of being legally drunk. Some states have laws against driving while drowsy. National and global disasters have been related to sleep deprivation, including the Exxon Valdez oil spill and the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown.

Strategies

A little sleep is better than none. Get as much as you can, even if it’s only one or two hours.

If you can manage four hours, that’s one full sleep cycle.

Manage your study schedule. To-do lists are your friends.

Buddy up with a friend in your class and make time for “study parties” throughout the semester. This will help you both stay on top of your workload.

Student life

Why is it a problem? Kept awake by voices or music, doors closing, footsteps, vomiting, and the like? Late-night action on campus is a drag when you’re trying to sleep (or when you’re not trying to sleep, but should be?).

Strategies

A little sleep is better than none. Get one or two hours.

If you can manage four hours, that’s one full sleep cycle.

Manage your study schedule. To-do lists are your friends.

Buddy up with a friend in your class and make time for “study parties” throughout the semester. This will help you both stay on top of your workload.

Stimulants Stimulants can make it harder to fall asleep. They can disrupt REM sleep, which is necessary for memory consolidation and creativity, and throw off your natural wake-sleep cycle.

Strategies

If you take a stimulant prescribed by your doctor, talk about how the dose and timing could affect your sleep.

SSRIs Antidepressants categorized as SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) increase serotonin (the feel-good chemical in the brain). However, they can alter other chemical processes in the brain, which may affect sleep.

Strategies

If you take SSRIs for depression and experience sleep difficulties, talk to your doctor. It might be possible to vary the dose, or use another medication, to reduce sleep disruption.

Alcohol or marijuana

Why is it a problem?

Alcohol and marijuana disrupt sleep, including REM sleep, which is necessary for memory consolidation and creativity.

“Alcohol makes you fall asleep faster, but in the second half of the night it causes restlessness and fragmented sleep.” —Shelley Hershner, MD

Strategies

Do not drink to relax. The fitful night it causes will leave you tired the following day.

Be aware of the importance of avoiding marijuana within two hours of bedtime.

Nine or more hours of sleep a night, and earlier wake-up times, are associated with higher GPAs, studies show.

Six or fewer hours of sleep a night, and later wake-up times, are associated with lower GPAs, studies show.

High performance is more closely linked to consistent sleep and wake times than to the actual number of hours slept.

Loss of sleep reduces reaction time. Drivers aged 16–29 are the age group most likely to be involved in car crashes caused by falling asleep at the wheel.

“Pulling an all-nighter gives you the driving performance of being legally drunk. In some states there are laws against driving drowsy.” —Shelley Hershner, MD

Weight gain or illness

Sleep has an important role in weight maintenance and immunity to some illnesses, research suggests.

The hormones that regulate your appetite, leptin and ghrelin, are affected by loss of sleep.

Less sleep is associated with higher Body Mass Index (BMI).

Lack of sleep affects your immune system and might increase your vulnerability to infection. In a study of young adults, those who slept seven hours or less were nearly three times more likely to catch a cold than those who slept eight or more hours.

Students who reported up to six hours of sleep were twice as likely to rate their health “poor” than were students who slept for seven or eight hours.

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